© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007

Keep your English up to date

Clueless

Professor David Crystal

Clueless. I’m clueless. He’s clueless. She’s clueless. I

mean, it’s literally a clue less, that is, a clue in the sense

of a piece of information or evidence used by police in

solving a crime, that’s where the word started years ago.

And then it became a rather more general, meaning any

facts about solving a problem – in phrases like, you know,

‘clues about the past’, ‘have we got any clues about the

past?’ – in archaeology exploration, for example. And then

earlier, there was a usage in idiom, you know, ‘I haven’t

got a clue’ – I’ve got no idea, I can’t think what’s

happening. So it has this kind of informal sense, the word

‘clue’, which goes back quite a long time, meaning having

no knowledge or understanding or ability.

It’s a much milder word, clueless, than stupid. Stupid is

quite strong – ‘you’re stupid’ is stronger than ‘you’re

clueless!’ Clueless is more - you’re absent minded, you’re scatty, you

could probably do it if you kept your mind on it – it’s that kind of usage,

isn’t it? A much milder concept.

Usage spread when it became the name of a 1995 film, loosely based on

Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ – it was called ‘Clueless’. It’s often intensified too –

‘I’m totally clueless!’ I heard somebody say the other day ‘I’m totally

clueless when it comes to grammar’. Well, I’m not totally clueless when it

comes to grammar, but I have to say, I am totally clueless when it comes

to cooking – I can do toast, and that’s about it!